Cathy's Art Diary

Impressive exhibition at the King’s Gallery looking at Italian Renaissance drawings from the Royal Collection. The show struck a good balance between appealing to the art history geeks like me and being more popularist by including three artists in residence and tables for you to draw at within the show. I liked the way the show was themed, focusing on the subjects of the drawings ranging from studies of bodies, though nature, religious and secular compositional studies and designs for objects. Complimenting this they discussed why and how drawings were made. I liked the small displays of artists materials throughout the show. One moan, which is a common one for me, was the way the lighting reflected off the glass, making it hard to see the detail without seeing lights or looking at yourself! Highlights were this wonderfully complex Guilo Romano tapestry design, a beautiful portrait by Fra Angelico, a study for the Raphael Vatican tapestry using figures in contemporary dress a...

Useful online lecture from ARTscapades introducing an exhibition on drawing in the Italian Renaissance at the King’s Gallery. Martin Clayton, from the Royal Collection Trust, guided us through the themes of the show highlighting key works. He started with an aspect which isn’t in the show, which I have since been to, talking about how the drawings entered the collection from Charles II acquiring the collection of the Earl of Arundel to George III’s purchase of the Joseph Smith library. Clayton talked about the different types of drawings and how they were used and I was particularly interested in the section on drawing for the applied arts as I had not expected to see this reflected in the show. The talk gave me a good grounding for going to the exhibition which was extensive to   the point of being overwhelming.

Fascinating exhibition at the Royal Academy bringing together works on paper by Impressionist artists. There was a lovely selection of works in a variety of medium including pastels, watercolours and drawing. I also spotted a number of artists I’d not come across before such as Federico Zandomeneghi so I have lots of look up. Because it was quite busy and the works were closely hung, I found myself having some good conversations as I went around. Closed 10 March 2024 Reviews Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard

Wonderful exhibition at the British Museum of recently discovered drawings but Hokusai for a encyclopaedia. Drawings by Hokusai are very rare as they were done as a tool in the process of making woodblocks for printing. They would be stuck to the block and used as a guide for cutting the lines and hence destroyed. These drawings ever used and have therefor survived. There were 163 postcard sized drawings arranged in groups on different subjects. Because the works were so slow it did take a while to go round and this wasn’t helped by the middle aged, including me, having a glasses crisis at the start as they worked out which pair would work best. My favourite pictures were scenes of everyday life albeit often overseen by a god. There were also fantasy works which verged on manga. The detail was amazing, as in this picture of a peacock, and some had tiny cross hatching to show rough fabrics. Some of the compositions were complex such as a god revealing the appearance of a spirt in...

Excellent lecture as part of London Art Week Digital examining the role of artists in establishing the canon of archetypal antique statues. Given by Adriani Aymanino the talk looked at what statues were available to artists at various periods and, taking The Laocoon as an example, he looked at the different reasons artists drew these works from records of expression, thought anatomical study to compositional studies. He spent some time discussing the concept of ideal proportions and beauty that these statues were thought to demonstrate and the role this played in an artists training within the academies and why this fell out of fashion in the late 20th century.

Small exhibition   at the British Museum showcasing pieces bought by a consortium of supporters named after the first keeper of prints and drawings at the museum who have built up a fund for buying pieces at auction to add to the collection. The group have bought 77 pictures of which 21 were shown here. They include works not only by   the old masters but also work which fill gaps in the collection or illuminates it in some way. There were good commentaries on the work and why it was purchased. For example there was a Jacob de Wit counterproof of a Rubens drawing where the museum already owned the Rubens. Also a Jan Luyhen print of the coronation of William and Mary part of a chronicle of ‘modern’ events. There was a lovely rare pen and ink drawing by the pastel portraitist Rosalba Carriera and the design for a panel of a vestment from about 1587. My favourite picture was the attached head studies but annoyingly I forgot to note the artist!